For the soldiers of 4-31 Infantry Battalion, today was the first day back from their post-deployment leave. It was still early, a few hours before the sunrise, and the snow was high enough to cover people's shoes. Soldiers meandered outside, waiting for the first formation while Staff Sergeant Boyle took accountability of his squad. He discovered he was missing one soldier. He started to become angry but soon saw his missing soldier, Private Jackson, slowly walking, with his head down, toward the formation.

"That damn private looks sadder than a fat kid who lost some cake," SSG Boyle thought to himself. PVT Jackson, who was the youngest of a poor family from a poor town, had $10,000 in the bank and SSG Boyle worried that the 'had' was past tense rather than possession. "Probably doesn't have a dollar to his name now," he surmised. He knew plenty of Soldiers who squandered their new-found wealth on frivolous things after returning home. Before they all left for their much-deserved leave, he ensured he counseled them and asked them how they would spend their money. The company leadership applauded him for it.

"Sergeant, I'm gonna treat my family and make sure that everyon' has a special Christmas," PVT Jackson said during his counseling.

"That's great! You've certainly can do that but be careful and not spend too much like a man in a middle-life crisis in Vegas. You have to save some money for your future."

PVT Jackson nodded in understanding, thanked SSG Boyle, shook his hand, and left to catch his flight back home to East Arkansas. Now PVT Jackson walked to formation looking like a sad puppy. SSG Boyle imagined he would hear the same story of money flowing from the Private's pocket into those of hookers, bartenders, and car salesmen. He pulled PVT Jackson aside.

"How was your leave Jackson?"

PVT Jackson immediately perked up, "It was great and I had a grand ole time!"

Surprised but still suspicious SSG Boyle asked, "What'd you do?"

"First, I took my family to Branson, Missouri."

SSG Boyle remembered this was the Midwestern playground -- family friendly -- but he was sure trouble could be found anywhere. "How big is your family?"

PVT Jackson responded, "We took 12: mom, dad, my brother, two sisters, a few aunts and uncles, and a couple cousins."

"Wow, that's a lot of people and mighty generous. How'd y'all get there?"

Before PVT Jackson could answer the First Sergeant called the Company to fall in and prepare for the revelry and the morning's exercise. SSG Boyle said they'd pick up the conversation later. After everyone saluted the flag, the Company Commander came up to the front of the formation and commented on how proud he was that everyone came back safe. He said that they'd cut the Company run from five miles to three, then everyone could go home early. Despite this olive branch, some people still groaned at the thought of running at all in the bitter cold and snow. Over leave they forgot that they were in the Army.

During the run PVT Jackson was positioned right next to SSG Boyle. He was more than pleased to continue his story.

"I bought a used RV and we drove all the way there."

SSG Boyle who hated to run but coped with it by going off into some other mental galaxy was brought back to earth. He asked Jackson to repeat it and PVT Jackson was happy to say it again.

"Even though we had the RV, we still got a hotel room for a night because they had a jacuzzi. We'd never seen one in real life before. It was a trip. We loved eating out too and I bought everyone Christmas gifts like Xboxes and jewelry."

The dollar signs began to rack up inside SSG Boyle's head like a cash register on Black Friday.

"Do you know what the best part was sergeant?" PVT Jackson said with a large grin and bright eyes.

The SSG shook his head.

"I bought a hippity hoppity Kangaroo."

The SSG was stunned and stopped in his tracks which caused a pile up in the formation. The First Sergeant yelled at SSG Boyle to keep up or he'd give him staff duty every weekend of the month. SSG Boyle caught up to PVT Jackson and said in pure bewilderment, "You bought a Kangaroo?!" PVT Jackson nodded his head vigorously.

The SSG ran in shock. Out of the millions of questions competing for his attention the first one he asked was, "How much did it cost?"

"It was expensive..."

SSG Boyle waited for him to give a number but PVT Jackson didn't volunteer one. Suddenly, they came to the end of the run and SSG Boyle ran into the Soldier in front of him. The First Sergeant fortunately didn't see. After the cool down and SSG Boyle giving the rest of his squad directions and guidance for the rest of the day he continued talking with PVT Jackson.

"So, what made it a hippity hoppity Kangaroo?"

"I don't know but the exotic pet website described it as a hippity hoppity kangaroo and it sure did love to hop around."

SSG Boyle had no clue how much a kangaroo should cost, much less a hippity hoppity one, but it seemed outrageous to him. He paced around a few steps, contemplating if he should ask him what he was thinking, why did he get it, how he planned to take care of this animal, or any number of questions a parent would ask a child that brought home a stray pet.

PVT Jackson preempted SSG Boyle and gushed with the rest of the story. "Sergeant, I wish that you could have seen Kyle, that's what we named him, he was a wild kangaroo. You know they can punch, and pretty hard too. My older brother, Dan, didn't know that and got socked. Haha. We all laughed so hard. Uncle Jedd laughed so hard he dislocated his jaw. Didn't know that could happen. Dan kept trying to get the best of Kyle in a fight but could never get close enough. Kyle had the foot speed and the vision. I think Kyle liked Dan the best though. We all think that Kyle had a crush on my mom too. He would follow her around when she was outside hanging the clothes to dry and he would stand at the window when she washed dishes. He would also make rumbling noises when he saw her. The one thing we hated was how he'd destroy our garden. He'd either eat stuff or hop all over the tomato plants. He was a special kangaroo."

SSG Boyle went back to money. "Jackson how much do you have left in the bank?"

"Have we gotten paid yet?"

SSG Boyle did a facepalm and the subsequent sigh was a verbal throwing up of the hands. SSG Boyle responded anyway. "Yes, we have in fact been paid."

"I have about $1,500 then."

SSG Boyle remembered PVT Jackson moping to formation that morning but it didn't seem to be because of money. He was excited relaying everything about Kyle and even when talking about his finances he was content.

"Jackson, why did you say 'you wish that I could have seen Kyle'?"

PVT Jackson immediately became deflated and dropped his head.

"Sergeant, my little sister forgot to lock the back gate two nights ago and Kyle got out. He hopped over to the neighbor's yard and began playing in his garden. The neighbor had no idea what it was and saw that it was destroying his vegetables so he decided to shoot it. We only had Kyle for two weeks."

After hearing this story, the SSG didn't know how to feel. Was this another story of the tragedy of frivolous spending or a tragedy of a beloved pet being taken away? He didn't know but it was a tragedy all the same and he saw that PVT Jackson was torn up about it. So, he just put his arm around the young private who had only tried to show his family a good time and told him, "Well Jackson, for two weeks that Kangaroo was the luckiest animal in the entire world."